July Issue of TP&W Magazine Explores Why Water Matters in Texas

Texas Parks & Wildlife magazine’s ninth annual water issue is on the newsstand now and is a useful resource to engage readers with current water issues that affect their lives. The issue “Why Water Matters” provides useful background information for reporters on environment, outdoors and region beats, and it features stories that could prompt editorial opinion pieces about water issues in Texas. The full text of the issue is also available on the magazine’s Web site.

Between years of drought and years punctuated with flash floods, Texans’ relationship with water reflects both the vital necessity of water and its destructive potential. For nine years, TP&W magazine has examined this relationship in a series of annual issues devoted to pressing water resource issues that face Texans. This includes covering major trends, ways people can conserve water and efforts to plan water use and balance the needs of people, industry, agriculture and the environment.

TP&W magazine Editor Louie Bond said the stories in this issue serve as a reminder to readers that access to clean water is not guaranteed.

“It’s a great reminder that we take water and the accompanying wildlife for granted until something happens,” she said. “It’s a good wake-up call and a call for us to start working before disaster strikes.”

Larry D. Hodge’s story “Blue Dawn” speaks to an issue that affects Texans across the state – water management and responsible water usage. Hodge describes TPWD’s efforts to restore the state’s watersheds and discusses the need for Texans to act as stewards on their land to ensure the ongoing viability of watersheds and availability of clean water.

Of particular interest to readers in Central Texas is Wendee Holtcamp’s “Saving Land, Saving Water,” a story about Texans protecting the Edwards Aquifer recharge zones. Holtcamp details her journey through the land that makes up the Edwards Plateau and recounts the history of how San Antonio residents, and Austin residents through a similar program, have raised money to buy land and have worked to preserve land in the recharge zones that are essential for maintaining water supply in their regions.

Readers in the greater Houston-Galveston and other coastal areas will find valuable information in Carol Flake Chapman’s “High Tide,” a story about the rising sea levels off the Texas coast. Recently, tide gauges have begun to show that sea levels are rising at twice the rate as they did a decade ago. The story details various scientists’ analyses regarding the cause of sea-level rise and it describes the steps scientists and the state are taking to protect residents and wildlife from its effects.

This issue also features a story by Mary O. Parker called “Life is but a Stream” about the wildlife that inhabits urban streams behind places such as shopping centers and the effect that urban development has on these waterways. Bond notes these urban creeks are often where children have their first encounters with wildlife.

In addition to informative stories, TP&W magazine’s “Why Water Matters” also features a series of stunning photos that illustrate the vital role water plays in the lives of Texans.

For reporters interested in covering of any of the subjects featured in “Why Water Matters,” TPWD can provide experts who can elaborate on the topics. Complimentary copies of the “Why Water Matters” special magazine issue are also available to news media upon request.

The special magazine issue is part of a broader Texas Parks and Wildlife Department public information initiative begun with the first special water resource magazine issue in July 2002. The initiative also includes video, radio, Web and other components.

The “Why Water Matters” July special issue of TP&W magazine can be found on newsstands across Texas. For more information, visit the TP&W magazine Web site.